Sunday, September 28, 2014

After
two heavy frosts, most of the plants that we foragers seek have withered and
died. The season, sadly, draws to an end. But a few plants continue to offer
their bounty, particularly those plants near or right on the coast.

One
plant, an old familiar one that grows nearly everywhere is the dandelion, Taraxacum officinalis. But aren’t
dandelions too bitter now for eating? Well, they became bitter immediately upon
flowering and remained so until right now. But after a heavy frost, dandelions
lose their bitterness. And in Waldo where I live, dandelions have since become
palatable once again.

So
if you yearn for some wild foods before they go by for the year, and you live
in a region that has had a frost or two, try digging some dandelions. It’s a
fall bonus that all dandelion lovers ought to take advantage of.

Another
tenacious wild plant, curled dock, Rumex
crispus, has the determination of a Timex watch; it keeps ticking when the
others begin quitting. Specifically, curled dock pretty much dies back in
mid-to late summer, but then in the cool of fall, starts putting out new
growth. This it does until constant freezing temperatures put an end to new
vegetative growth.

Tree
nuts are a perennial fall favorite, but nut-bearing trees are widely scattered
and therefore, not a dependable food source, at least here in Maine. If you have access to shagbark
hickory, American chestnut or butternut trees, be thankful for your good
fortune. Beechnuts, a common mast crop in Maine and liked by animals as well as
people, are notoriously coquettish and for the last several years, I have not
found any beechnuts to harvest.

A
number of wild plants remain, plants that, like curled dock, experience a second
shot of growth. What you find and where you find it depends upon serendipity
and a bit of luck. But since we have so little time left before a hard freeze
and even snow puts a finality to our foraging days afield, I suggest you get
out now and have a season’s-end fling. It’s a long winter and the shorter you
can make it the better.

About Tom Seymour

Besides writing freelance pieces for a number of magazines, I am also a regular columnist and feature writer for The Maine Sportsman Magazine, New England’s largest circulation outdoor magazine. Additionally, I am a regular contributor to Fisherman’s Voice Magazine, specializing in maritime history and human-interest stories. Finally, I write several columns for Courier Publication newspapers, including a home-and-garden column called From The Ground Up.

My book credits include Wild Plants of Maine, A Useful Guide, Hidden World Revealed, Musings of A Maine Naturalist and Tom Seymour's Forager's Notebook, all by Just Write Books, Topsham, Maine. I also wrote Foraging New England, Fishing Maine, Hiking Maine, Off The Beaten Path, Maine, Birding Maine and Nuts & Berries of New England, all for Globe Pequot Press. The Maine Sportsman has published a collection of my wildlife columns in book form as an inducement to subscribers. Finally, Tom Seymour's Maine, A Maine Anthology, iUniverse Press, is a collection of Maine history and folklore.

Foraging for wild plants is my great passion and these figure largely in my diet. I live in a small cottage that sits well off the road on 10 acres of land in Waldo, Maine.